We all know that you are supposed to eat healthy, workout, and take care of yourself. With all the temptations of junk food, Netflix and laziness, it is sometimes hard to follow those simple rules. You can eat crappy, you can watch some Netflix but above all else you NEED to be at least remotely active. Why? It could be the difference between life and death.

In 2012, a study was published in the Lancet that reported that smoking kills 5.1 million people each year, which isn't surprising because everyone knows smoking kills. However, they found that inactivity kills 5.3 million people each year. That's insane! Being inactive is more likely to kill you than someone who smokes. Why have we learned to say "ew" at someone smoking on the sidewalk but turn the other way when our friend hasn't left the couch in two days? Inactivity has been shown to lead/contribute to obesity, and obesity is directly linked to six out of the seven leading causes of death in the United States. These can all be prevented more often than not by fixing your lifestyle. Stop living a sedentary lifestyle, please; your life may be on the line! We owe it to ourselves to be better than this.

You can beat inactivity; it is recommended that adults do 150 minutes of moderate-vigorous activity a week. These could be simple things like walking, swimming, biking, gardening, yoga, weight lifting or cross training. As long as the activity is sustained for 10 minutes, it can count towards your 150 minutes a week. Take time to schedule a workout whether it is by yourself or with a friend; it can be something as simple as walking around the neighborhood. It is truly not hard to be active and anyone can do it. This doesn't mean that you need to become a gym buff, just be conscious of how much time you have spent sitting at your desk, laying on the couch or messing around on the internet.

Remember: you are the boss of your own destiny. Your workouts/active times are meetings you schedule with yourself. Bosses don't cancel meetings! If you are in need of ideas for staying active, search Google or Pinterest for some easy stuff you can do at home or without a gym; there are thousands of ideas at your disposal. You deserve to live your best life, and to do so you need to stay active. Take care of your mind, body and spirit, and the rest will fall into place.